


It runs in the family

by VelourFanClub (toomanysorrows)



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Trans Character, Trans Corrin, sister bonding, trans hinoka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanysorrows/pseuds/VelourFanClub
Summary: After Okami gets brought to Hoshido she finds out she has more in common with Hinoka than she thought. She also finds out she can't handle alcohol nearly as well as she'd thought.





	It runs in the family

**Author's Note:**

> This is honestly me fantasizing about having hinoka as an older sister xD  
> I'm using my personal Corrin again. Only important plot divergence is that she's called Okami, has black hair instead of white hair and an eyepatch.  
> Also I kinda wanted to mention something about the language? My first instinct was that it felt weird to use transgender and queer in a fantasy context since they're relatively modern terms and that could perhaps pull people out of their immersion in the story. But otherwise I'd have to come up with my own fantasy terms for them and people might not even understand what is meant by those so I figured I wouldn't risk it. Sorry if that botherd anyone.

Okami’s return to Hoshido had been a … confusing matter. Obviously mainly for Okami herself, as she suddenly learnt that the family that had raised her wasn’t actually her blood family and that she had a whole new set of siblings and even a mother, in the nation that her home had been at war with even. But it was also rather confusing for the Hoshidans. They were all obviously excited by the news that a Nohrian royal with the same kind of hair and the same name as their lost little brother had been found but when the captive turned out to be a girl there was admittedly some confused muttering.  
But after Okami heard the reason for the confusion it didn’t take long for her to explain that she was in fact a transgender girl and so the confusion was cleared. The Hoshid- her siblings accepted her and adapted to her new pronouns surprisingly fast, faster than her Nohrian siblings had when she first came out to them, and even Takumi, who was very much not friendly towards her, respected it with no issue. Mikoto had just said that, daughter or son, she was just happy to have her child back with her.

There wasn’t a lot for Okami to do in Hoshido. Leaving the castle grounds was too risky and her new siblings were often busy. Most of the day she’d take walks and talk with Azura if she was there or read in the library and sometimes she had tea with Mikoto in the hopes of, if not remembering the past, at least forging some kind of new bond. When she had the chance she did try to get to know her siblings a bit better, however it wasn’t an easy task. Ryoma was a good man and he did his best to make sure Okami was comfortable, but as the heir and commander of Hoshido’s forces he often wasn’t around. Sakura was still too shy to talk for very long and unlike with the others, since she was still a baby when Okami had been kidnapped, there wasn’t much in the way of memories to build off of. Takumi was just short and gruff with her and she generally didn’t see him outside of a couple of family dinners. It was another story with Hinoka however.

It had been awkward at first. Now that her little sister was finally back with her she’d been incredibly excited to reconnect with her, but with Okami not remembering anything she talked about it was hard. But at least the two had a shared love for fighting and a few intense sparring matches later a new sense of camaraderie had developed between them. When she wasn’t busy with her military duties Hinoka would often show her around the castle or the town. She’d point out places that had memories connected to them but they’d also talk about anything that happened around them. The Nohrian princess found it surprisingly easy to talk with Hinoka. Even if she couldn’t remember how it had been in the past, talking and bantering with her felt familiar, and it was just plain fun.  
Right now the two were riding along a small forest path, Hinoka on her Pegasus and Okami on a horse she’d borrowed from the local stables. Hinoka was on leave for a couple days but her Pegasus had gotten antsy and so she’d asked Okami if she wanted to take a ride.

The ride was mostly silent. It was a beautiful day and both were just content to enjoy the weather for a bit. The sun had been a pleasant surprise for Okami. Growing up in Nohr she’d never seen it and she had thought that, just like other Nohrians, she’d have to be careful to avoid it as to not get severe burns. However it seemed that her Hoshidan genetics had worked in her favour and, aside from some mild burns at first she’d found she’d adapted quite well to the sunlight. At this rate she’d be going back to Nohr with a tan.  
The silence was interrupted when Hinoka suddenly halted her Pegasus and looked at a tree near the path.

“Oh man, I’d forgotten about this…”

Curiously Okami drove her horse closer to see what had piqued her sister’s attention. She let out a little gasp at the sight: on the bark were the kanji for both their names, crudely carved into the bark. 

Hinoka leaned forward on her Pegasus, a wistful smile on her face.

“I remember this. I’d managed to steal one of Kagerou’s knives when she was busy painting and we snuck out here and I carved our names into the bark. I didn’t come out here as often after they kidnapped you so I guess I’d forgotten about it…” 

 

She sighed slightly.

“We really used to do everything together back then. Though,” she glanced back at Okami with a smirk “I guess that hasn’t completely changed.”

The princess raised her eyebrow. “How so?”

“Why do you think the others accepted you being trans so easily?”

She blinked slightly, still confused, before the realisation hit her.

“O-Oh! You are too?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

The Pegasus knight shrugged, still smirking slightly.

“I wanted to wait for the right time. Figured now was a good moment, if we were already being sappy.”

Okami couldn’t stop the broad smile coming onto her face, nor did she want to really.

“Thanks for telling me… I’m actually really happy knowing that. Everyone accepted me back home but there wasn’t anyone like me you know? “

Hinoka nodded.

“Yeah, I can understand that, it was the same for me for a long time till I found some people in town. Mother and the rest were always really supportive but sometimes you need to be around people like you. It honestly helps a lot."  
The two were silent for a bit more, each lost in thought, before Hinoka spoke up again:  
"If I can ask, how did you figure it out?”

Okami hummed thoughtfully, thinking back.

“According to Camilla and Xander it was… kind of always there? I’d always nag them to keep my hair long and sometimes they found me trying on the maid’s dresses or some makeup I’d smuggled out of Camilla’s room. Eventually me and Camilla had a talk about it and we agreed to try having everyone treat me as a girl for a while and things developed from there. I remember Elise was really glad she had a second older sister now.”

Hinoka chuckled, although it was a little bit rueful. 

“Yeah, I remember that the couple times where mother tried to get you a haircut we’d pretty much have to tie you down to the chair. I guess I should be somewhat appreciative of those Nohrians, at least they did their best to help you with that.”

Okami winced slightly. It still hurt to hear how Hinoka talked about her Nohrian siblings sometimes. She understood that her sister had her reasons to be so angry but still, she often didn’t know whether she should speak up and try to defend her family or just ignore the comments. In this case she opted for a third option: changing the subject.

“What about you? How did you figure it out?”

“It was shortly after you’d been taken. When they finally let me join and train as a Pegasus knight they obviously put me with the boys in the barracks. It was… not pleasant. It just didn’t feel right to be there. I’d always volunteer to take the night watch and help with other tasks just so I could be around the boys as little as possible. Apparently our trainer noticed and he told mother and she eventually coaxed it out of me. She got me transferred to the girl’s barracks and I immediately felt much better, so from then on it was basically settled.”

Okami smiled slightly. It was honestly not surprising that Hinoka had figured it out through the army, it fit her.

“I guess it runs in the family huh.”

They both shared a laugh and continued their ride.  
\----

A couple days after that Hinoka approached Okami again, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Hey, you said you’d never met anyone like us back in Nohr right?”

She shook her head. “No, not really, I didn’t go out of the fortress often.”

“Well, there’s this bar in the castle-town where a lot of queer people go and I was thinking of going there tonight. Want to come along?”

She nodded eagerly. She’d heard there were bars like that in Windmire and had always been wanting to go sometime, so now that there was a similar opportunity right here there was really no reason not to. 

“Of course! I’d love to.”

That night the two quickly walked out of a small sidedoor of the palace and headed to town. They’d put on commoners clothes and Hinoka had instructed her to call her Tsugumi. After all if word got out that the princess of Hoshido went to bars at night without any escort it could be dangerous. To that end she’d also dyed her hair black, which ironically made her look much more like Okami’s older sister.  
The bar was on the outskirts of town and so it didn’t take long to get there. It was a traditional Hoshidan building of wood and straw and looked slightly old but still in good condition. A small sign above the door showed its name: the Pink Lilly. The inside was much less dirty than she’d always imagined a bar to be. There was a counter in one corner and the rest of the building was mostly occupied by sitting mats with some low Hoshidan tables to sit at, with some of the tables in the corners secluded slightly by screens. A couple of lanterns hanging from the ceiling cast a pleasant glow over the room.

It seemed like Hinoka was a regular here since as soon as she walked through the door she was greeted by the barkeep.

“Tsugumi! Did they finally give you leave again? And who’s that girl, did you finally manage to get a girlfriend?”

She shook her head, walking over to the bar with Okami.

“Nah, I wish. That’s my little sister Yuki. She was away in Cyrkensia for a while but she’s back now, so I’m showing her around.”

At that Hinoka ruffled her hair a bit and the barkeep leant forward, looking Okami over with a smirk.

“Well, that’s good, means I still have a chance. She’s pretty cute.”

The Hoshidan princess-in-disguise snorted slightly. 

“Keep it in your pants tonight would you. She’s finally back so I’m going to catch up with her, you can have her next time. Can you get us a bottle of sake?”

The barkeep pouted slightly but nodded. After they got their sake Hinoka walked over to one of the more secluded tables in the corner. It didn’t take long for them to fall into easy conversation, Hinoka telling her stories of things that had happened when she was here in the past or the both of them making remarks about patrons that walked in. Occasionally some friend of Hinoka’s would walk over to the table and they’d chat. A couple of times those people would also end up flirting with Okami who, to Hinoka’s amusement, got extremely flustered with how unused she was to that kind of attention. All the while the sake flowed easy and by the time they finally left, late at night, they’d already drank two whole bottles between them.

Hinoka seemed relatively unaffected, having only a slight lilt in her voice but not much else. Okami however was pretty drunk. She had had alcohol before, table wine being customary in Nohr for the nobility, but even then she’d never drank much more than maybe one glass per meal and often she would opt for water instead. This trip had been her first real drinking experience and it showed. Hinoka had to stifle her laughter as she supported the drunk princess to make sure she didn’t fall. A short distance out of town Hinoka set her down on a rock on a hill, still laughing as she sat down beside her.

“Here, the night air should help you sober up a bit at least.”

She was right and after a while the world stopped spinning as much for Okami, the alcohol leaving a pleasant warm buzz in her chest. It helped her appreciate the atmosphere around them. It was a cloudless night with many stars flickering in the sky, a gentle but not too cold breeze swayed the grass and the summer cicadas were chirping all around them. The warmth from the day still lingered, making the temperature just right. It was a perfect scene to finish off the evening with.

Slowly Okami started speaking, looking back at Hinoka with a soft smile:

“You know, back in Nohr, Camilla always said that when I was finally allowed to go to Windmire she’d take me out drinking, to celebrate. But with all the stuff that happened when I arrived there we never got the chance. I was a bit disappointed by that but… I’m glad I got to do it with you instead.” 

Hinoka snorted, looking away, but Okami could still spot a broad smile on her face.

“I should’ve known you were going to be an emotional drunk, just like mother.”

The princess reached out to give her a playful slap on the arm.

“Hey, I’m trying to tell you how much I appreciate what you did! The least you can do is listen!”

Hinoka rolled her eyes and pulled her into a sideways hug with her arm.

“I’m happy we got to do this too. I’m glad you’re back sis.”

That night, when she was hugging her sister and still slightly drunk, was the first time Hoshido ever really felt like home for Okami.  
\---  
Weeks later, on that fateful day on the battlefield, Hinoka’s smile that night was one of the reasons why she refused to side with Nohr.


End file.
